Notes and Editorial Reviews

In Great Scott, the Kansas-born mezzo-soprano, one of today’s best-loved classical singers, creates a role conceived specifically with her in mind. The character she plays, Arden Scott, just happens to be an opera star, and she is the lynchpin of what Fred Plotkin of WQXR, the USA’s leading classical music radio station, welcomed as a “deeply moving and musically brilliant work” that “should enter the standard repertory just as Heggie’s two previous masterpieces – Dead Man Walking and Moby-Dick – already have”.

Jake Heggie, who has been described as US opera’s most successful composer, chose the celebrated playwright Terence McNally as his librettist forRead more Great Scott. The two previously collaborated on the gripping Dead Man Walking, which has become something of a modern classic since its premiere in 2000. Joyce DiDonato first performed its central role, Sister Helen Prejean, at New York City Opera in 2002 and will do so again in concert stagings in London and Madrid in January/February 2018, coinciding with the album release of Great Scott.

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REVIEW:

There’s a cunning (and witty) interplay of ideas at work here...Heggie gets to spoof the sub-Rossinian bel canto on an elaborate scale...but in so doing manages to transcend mere pastiche in the creation of genuinely elegant and beautiful lines and authentic vocal fireworks that challenge and tax DiDonato as surely as the roles in her core repertoire.

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: ( 1 Customer Review )

Great Opera !May 25, 2018By Joseph Erdeljac (West Chester, PA)See All My Reviews"Great Scott by Heggie and McNally is Great Opera ! The entire cast is superb and the style of this work is excellent. There is loads of humor and situations that can only be found in a show cast. The musical styles are perfectly suited to the &quot;bel canto&quot; opera in the plot and you would think it is an actual real relic. The scenes between the actors while rehearsing and back stage are very listenable and palatable. There is no grating dissonance and weird &quot;modern&quot; sounds. The one drawback to the recording is that there is no libretto. In spite of the fact that it is in English, except for the opera parts in the story, it is difficult to hear all the text. No matter how good the singers are some of the words get lost. This being a live performance it is quite evident that the audience found it a wonderful experience all around. It is wonderful to have an original story like this for a change."Report Abuse